April 2005 Ensign - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

52
Bishop Kyle
Anderson (left)
with blind
members serving
in Ruston Ward:
Mary Jo Thorpe,
Wayne Pearcy,
Brian Dulude,
Zena Pearcy,
Brook Sexton,
Jeff Pearcy.
It is the same in spiritual endeavors, she
says. Blind people who receive callings in the
Church learn to magnify them by using alternative
techniques. She draws a comparison in terms
of a common cultural difference. In western society,
people eat certain foods and use a fork. They may
never consider other alternatives. But in Asian societies,
people are accustomed to other foods, eat them with
chopsticks, and get along very well. “Sometimes in the
Church I think we need to realize that blind people can
use ‘chopsticks’ and get along fine.”
Zena Pearcy offers a simple example. Some years ago she
served as Primary president in the ward where her family
lived. During sharing time, she could not call on children
simply to raise their hands. So she asked them to raise their
hands and then asked teachers by name to choose someone
from their class to respond.
The Pearcys’ son Wayne uses alternative techniques to
solve problems both in and out of the Church. A skilled
trumpet player who has learned by ear, he marches in his
high school marching band. He has to listen to the people
on either side of him in order to be able to stay in line.
Sometimes it is difficult. But he says it is no more difficult
than learning a new route of travel off the football field;
there, too, he has to memorize certain routines to go places.
At the sacrament table, he reads the prayers in braille.
He prefers not to rely solely on memory. “Sometimes the
Spirit is really strong up there, so I feel it is better to read
it.” That way he won’t make an error in a prayer.
Brook Sexton, now working in Hawaii, says there is
nothing wrong with priesthood leaders asking blind members
where they feel they could serve. But the answer from
the members may be that they will serve anywhere they
are called. Do other people accept blind members as
teachers and leaders? Sister Sexton’s answer is that they
do if the teacher is prepared. The young women in Ruston
accepted her well. “Because I am confident, because I
believe in myself, they trusted me to be a leader.”
Mary Jo Thorpe says blind members are sometimes
seen as “amazing” simply because they can do things that
sighted members do. Instead, they should be expected to
do the same things. They need to stretch their spiritual
and intellectual capabilities just as any other member does.
(She acknowledges, however, that she and others like her
are role models for blind children at the summer camp
where she worked in Ruston. The children need to know
blind people who have been successful in school and who
hold productive jobs.)
Rebekah Jakeman offers an example of growth that can
come through a calling. While she and her husband were
at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, in 2003–4,
Sister Jakeman served in the Relief Society presidency of a
student ward where all of the presidency were pregnant.
The president and second counselor both had their babies
shortly after Sister Jakeman, leaving her to carry out the
presidency’s assignments almost on her own. She developed
ways to fulfill her assignments and learned to rely on
the help of other sisters. “I just had to figure out ways to
PHOTOGRAPH BY PAULA ANDERSON